My husband Joe is a meat lover so when I told him that I was making vegetable lasagna roll-up he immediately wrinkled his nose and I assured him that he was going to love it. And while I was cooking the sauce he kept asking me if I was adding some sausage to the sauce, but I stood my ground with a firm “no” 🙂 And when it finally came time to taste the much anticipated lasagna roll-up, guess what, he loved it and I must say that this recipe really is wonderful…even without meat.

Separate and cover noodles until ready to use. Spread ricotta cheese, roll tightly, place in pan.

I am always looking for good recipes that you can cook ahead, freeze and then thaw and cook for those nights when you come home tired from a long day at work. I love this recipe because it can be made into small portions, it is loaded with delicious vegetables and there is less cheese involved than a regular lasagna. Of course you can always add some meat to the recipe or change the vegetables around as you please, but all kidding aside, this recipe will definitely be a staple recipe here at our house and sometimes there may even be some meat in it.

Cook lasagna noodles in salted water according to package directions, drain and rinse with cold water. Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and place one layer of noodles, alternate plastic wrap with noodles ending with plactic wrap on top, to prevent the noodles from drying out. Set aside.

To make cheese filling: in a small bowl add ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and chopped basil, stir to combine.

To assemble: line up 3 loaf-size foil pans. Spoon a small amount of sauce into bottom of loaf pan. Lay out 4 lasagna noodles and spread each noodle with a thin layers of ricotta cheese mix. Roll each noodle up tightly and place on top of sauce inside foil pan. 4 rolled up noodle will fit inside each pan. Top noodles with more sauce and your favorite cheese. Close pan off with tinfoil. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cook immediately or let cool down in refrigerator before placing in freezer.

When ready to bake preheat oven to 350 degrees F and cook covered for 40 minutes. Turn heat up to 400 degrees F and continue to cook uncovered for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden in color. Enjoy!

Ok, so it all started when I made the Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread and discovered that zucchini can be an exciting vegetable. Who knew! I always thought they were dull and not worthy of my attention 🙂 Now I understand why people get so excited when they tell me that they planted zucchini in their garden or that they found the most gorgeous zucchini at the grocery store. It turns out that zucchini is quite the vegetable!

Zucchinideller

So now that I am on this zucchini kick here is a wonderful little recipe for some Zucchinideller. I should probably explain the word Zucchinideller. They are like the Danish meat patties called Frikadeller except there is no meat involved here, only delicious zucchini.

Zucchinideller (makes 6 patties)

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, grated and drained

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 small bundle chives, chopped

4 tablespoons old-fashioned oats

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 medium fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

Rinse and dry zucchini. Leaving the peel on, grate the zucchini and squeeze out excess liquid. Place zucchini in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Spray pan with cooking spray and bring to medium-high heat. Drop tablespoons of zucchini onto hot pan and brown both sides of patties. Serve warm and enjoy!

This cake was love at first sight and that love was confirmed with the first bite. I have always been indifferent to zucchini, didn’t pay them any attention. As a matter of fact I always thought they were a bit boring. So what initially drew me to this cake was the deep, dark chocolate look and then I read on and discovered it contained zucchini, and I was intrigued. I had to taste this for myself.

The result was amazing and the cake left me speechless…well almost speechless 🙂 The cake is moist with a delicious intense chocolate flavor and I still can’t believe that it has zucchini in it. I was a bit unsure when I first made this cake if I should simply just let the shredded zucchini sit in the sieve and drip off while I prepared the other ingredients. I seemed to me that it should at least get squeezed a little to get rid of some more liquid. But I decided to trust the instructions and just let it sit quietly and drip off and it turned out perfectly. As you can probably tell I am a little excited about this cake and it will definitely not be the last time that I make it.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake (makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

2 cups zucchini (1 large), shredded

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

6 tablespoons butter (3 oz.), melted

1 large egg

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Rinse and dry zucchini. Leaving the peel on, grate the zucchini using the small holes on the grater. Place shredded zucchini in a sieve over a bowl and allow the excess liquid to drain while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a loaf pan and set aside.

In a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice, set aside.

Over low heat melt butter and set aside to cool a little.

In your stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a handheld mixer) beat egg and sugar until creamy and smooth. While continuing to mix, add vanilla extract and butter. Using a spatula, fold in the shredded zucchini. Then fold in the dry ingredients until combined, do this in three increments. Add chocolate chips and mix until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan. Enjoy!